


Nick and Judy's High Seas Adventure

by RT_Pilon



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Gen, High Seas TT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 23:04:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10886766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RT_Pilon/pseuds/RT_Pilon
Summary: Nick and Judy are on a sailing holiday.Meanwhile, agent Jack Savage has a mission.





	Nick and Judy's High Seas Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Written for High Seas TT, but ran away from me, and ran late.  
> Inspired by Mister Meads High Seas TT cartoon 'Epilogue'  
> Initial work was read as a blind read through by Comicanon;  
> https://soundcloud.com/comicanon/nick-and-judys-high-seas-adventure  
> Re-editing is hopefully now finished?

The breeze was picking up, tautening the sails and the ropes creaking in their blocks.  
The morning's tropical humidity was being replaced with salty freshness.  
Nick brought the bow around slightly, and added half a turn to the halyard winch.  
Judy climbed up out of the galley to stand next to Nick at the helm.  
"Still no sight of land?" she moaned, looking forward. "How long has it been?"  
Nick looked at her with a raised eyebrow.  
"I thought you knew the answer to that one already Fluff."  
Judy turned to Nick with a confused look.  
"But yeah," he chuckled, "no sight of land yet, although those clouds off the starboard bow are probably coming off a land mass."  
"So are we headed that way?" she asked.  
"Well," started Nick, "if we're where I think we are, we're approaching the southwestern end of the archipelago that extends into the gulf."  
"The first island is an unstable volcanic atoll, the next one is a restricted nature reserve, but the third one has a small town on it's northern side, which is about fifty miles away, so we should be there by nightfall." Judy groaned and headed back below.  
"You want another coffee?" she called back.  


"Sonar here, ping at six hundred and fifty meters, five degrees to starboard, diverging at five knots."  
The tiger captain looked down at the otter manning the sonar panel, and growled.  
"How did it get inside our clearance zone, is it another whale?"  
The otter looked sheepishly at his captain.  
"We thought it was part of that pod out at thirteen hundred meters off the port side, Sir, but we now see it's staying on the surface.  
"The captain looked at the badger next to the otter.  
"Acoustics, what have you got?" "No mechanicals Sir, it's not calling like a whale so it's either a sailboat or maybe a basking whale-shark Sir.  
"The tiger looked back to his assistant officer, an ocelot working on a map table with a white furred rabbit.  
"Number one, you want to run up the scope and have a look?" the captain asked.  
The ocelot looked from his captain to the rabbit, who shook his head and striped ears.  
"Er, captain, we probably shouldn't break surface, what with trying to stay hidden and everything for the mission.  
"The captain glared past his senior officer to the rabbit, counting the stripes on his face as a means of calming himself. The rabbit simply looked back at the tiger with a nonplussed expression.  
The tiger looked away to the goat and sheep at the front of the control room.  
"Helm, maintain depth and heading."  
The pair of grazers both replied, "Aye captain." The tiger then turned back to the otter and badger, "Keep an ear on that bogey please gentlemen."  


Nick watched the telltales on the sails and looked across at the clouds building on the horizon.  
"You hanging onto something Carrots?" He called into the cabin, "I'm gonna come-about and head towards the islands, should pick up some anabatic winds."  
"Just pouring your coffee," she called back, "gimme a second."  
Nick unloaded the winch a little and started gently turning the wheel. He noticed Judy at the base of the steps from the galley.  
"Hang onto the railing Fluff, I'm coming-about."  
Judy grabbed the handrail to the stairs as Nick pulled the wheel around a whole turn. The sails luffed momentarily and the hull leaned upright into the wind, until the inertia of the boat carried it around the turn. The boom flopped across, trailing assorted ropes and blocks, until the sails began to fill out again. The yacht heeled over with the new tack, and Nick could feel the acceleration come on.  
"Here you go Slick," Judy said, handing him a capped, spill proof mug.  
"You're a lifesaver Sweetheart," Nick grinned, giving Judy a quick boop on the nose, as he applied the steering brake and began hauling in some sail with the winch.  
With the new tack, Judy could no longer see the clouds on the horizon, but looking to the West she knew the other side of the gulf was some six hundred miles distant. She hopped backwards up onto the cabin roof, leaning back on the sail box and, looking back past Nick, watched as their little tender bobbed along behind them.  
Their yacht, the 'Buoyant Burrow', settled into it's new tack. Nick unlocked the steering, and holding the bottom of the wheel with a hind paw, casually sipped from his coffee mug as he put another turn on the winch. The added breeze was pushing their speed up towards ten knots.  


The whole yacht shook with a rending crash, the sound of timber splintering at the bow, as the vessel lurched into a right turn.  
Nick was catapulted from the steering deck, past the railing into the water, he heard Judy scream just before he hit.  
As he surfaced, he watched as the yacht began to heel over to port, and keep rolling until the mast and sail hit the water.  
The twisting moment of the stricken yacht had whipped the tender past the transom whereupon it glided to a stop near where Nick splashed about in the water.  
Holding the bow rope of the tender, he called, "Carrots, Judy, JUDY?!" as he pulled himself along the rope, back to the slowly sinking Buoyant Burrow.  
"What the turnip hell?" cursed Judy from within the cabin, mixed with crashing noises as equipment fell out of cupboards.  
At least he now knew she was OK as he reached a handrail and manoeuvred himself to somewhere he could climb aboard.  
More crunching sounds with accompanying curses emanated from the cabin until Judy finally poked her head out of the sideways stairwell.  
She watched him struggle into the wheel deck and stand up on the submerged wall on the port side.  
"Did we hit something?" she asked, bewildered.  
"Something," replied Nick, "got no idea what, we should be in about fifty meters of water, and no reefs or anything.  
"He climbed up the deck to stand on the starboard side of the hull, holding a hawser line.  
"The whole keel's been ripped off!" he gasped. "There's a smash in the bow and a lot of structure broken away from where the keel was."  
Judy's eyes went wide, "Are we sinking?" she cried.  


"Captain, CAPTAIN!" yelled the otter on sonar, "That target has changed course, he's closing on…"  
The conning tower rang like a bell, followed almost immediately by another ringing blow as the half tonne concrete keel bounced off the side of the submarine's hull.  
There was an accompanying lurch to starboard, scattering maps and seamammals about the control room.  
The badger at the acoustics table fell off his chair, screaming as he clutched his ears.  
Everything took on a slightly reddish tint as the emergency lighting came on, even though the primary lighting was still working.  
"Damage control, report!" yelled the tiger, righting himself at the guardrail around the periscope platform.  
"Ballast!" the Captain called, "prepare to surface!"  
"Belay that order," came a sharp voice, heads turning to look at the white rabbit with the stripped ears.  
"WHAT?!" roared the tiger, heaving himself towards the rabbit.  
"Captain, can I suggest that we wait momentarily for any damage reports to come in, I sense that we are still underway, and I really must maintain my mission timing," replied the rabbit, unflinching below the looming tiger.  
The two eyed one another, the tiger's face becoming redder by the moment.  
The rabbit continued, "Oh and Captain, if we could refrain from putting up the periscope, it would be good to maintain our sense of stealth.  
"Without taking his eyes off the rabbit, the tiger growled at the ocelot.  
"Number one, you have the con, maintain heading," and in the same breath, "Mister Savage, stateroom, NOW."  
The First Officer saluted and called out, "Aye Captain," and turned to the crew. "Helm, ballast, maintain heading and depth, acoustics, are you OK?"  
The badger turned to the ocelot, wiggling a paw in his ear. "Just a bit of ringing Sir, I should be OK Sir."  
Down the hallway, a door slammed.  


Nick climbed back into the wheel area.  
"Looking at the damage, I'd say we're probably going to sink, although without the keel we're a bit lighter. It might take ten or fifteen minutes."  
He began hauling on the tender rope, and pulled the small dinghy up to the cabin area.  
"First things first, are you OK?" asked Nick.  
"I hit my shoulder on the kitchen as we went over," responded Judy, "but I think I'm OK."  
"Alright then, could you lift up a carton of water? We want to grab that first, we want water first, then rations, then we can grab whatever else if we've got time."  
"Nick, the table's wedged over the storage locker," she called, "I can't budge it."  
Nick clambered past Judy into the galley.  
"OK, you stand at the door, I'll pass stuff out to you," directed Nick, "just be ready to get on the tender and cast off at a moment's notice." He un-wedged the table stand and folded it out of the way, as a couple of inches of water sloshed around at his feet, assorted debris floating about.  
He handed a plastic wrapped carton of drinking water to Judy, who hefted it into the bow of the tender.  
After the second carton, Nick moved around to the bed and lifted up the base, revealing the food locker with it's watertight plastic storage boxes. It took some effort to disentangle the boxes and begin pulling them out.  
Judy climbed aboard the tender and began positioning the assorted supplies around the vessel, checking on the already fitted first aid and survival gear.  
Nick moved to the now 'upward' side of the cabin and opened a cupboard, narrowly dodging the assortment of equipment that tumbled out. He opened a hidden door at the back of the cupboard and looked at the floor safe, now a wall safe, within.  
Quickly dialling the tumbler, he opened the safe and fished out the cash tin, passports and assortment of official paperwork. Moving towards the galley door, he reached into the map locker and pulled out the standby hand held radio, and box of spare batteries.  


"Dammit Savage, I'm sick to death of you damned spooks! You just waltz in here as if you own every damn thing!" yelled the tiger.  
"I'm sorry you feel that…" began Jack.  
"Listen, I've eighty mammals on this ship, everything here has to work in unison, there's protocols to follow, checks and procedures to carry out should something like this happen."  
The rabbit held the captain's stare."Yes Captain, I'm aware of that, but we must also be able to make split second decisions and work on the fly."  
"We are currently running about an hour behind schedule and I have an informant on that island who could very well be in a life threatening situation as we speak."  
"WE could be in a life threatening situation right-"  
The coms buzzer on the wall sounded, and the tiger mashed on the button.  
"WHAT?" he snapped.  
"Sir, damage control has come through, we appear to be watertight, all system nominal Sir."  
The tiger held his glare at the rabbit.  
"Understood number one, maintain the mission." He ignored the response from his Senior Officer, instead slumping a little in front of the agent while muttering, "Thank Khan I've only got six more months of this, I've had enough to do me, they can have the admiralty, I'm going to retire to Zootopia and open a little restaurant there…" He stepped aside from the door, an arm beaconing toward it.  
"Might see if I can put RABBIT on the menu. Now get out!"  


Nick handed the cash tin and paperwork across to Judy.  
"OK, that looks like the important stuff, and I just had a thought…" He clambered around to the roof of the cabin and opened the sail box, pulling out the storm spinnaker. He threw the bundle towards Judy, who tried to catch it, whereupon it fell into the lifeboat.  
"Sorry Fluff," he called. Moving forward, he then grabbed at the emergency equipment locker, pulling out all the life jackets and the inflatable life raft.  
Lifting open a cabin window, he began lowering life jackets into the window and pulling the inflation toggles. Finally, he struggled the life raft round to the cabin door and clambered in amongst the inflated life vests bobbing around at waist height, reached up and locked the window shut, then pulled the toggle for the life raft.  
The inflatable almost filled the cabin area. Nick squirmed to the edge of the raft and retrieved the safety flares before backing out the hatch and closing the door. He pulled the tender up against the wheel deck and climbed aboard, dragging a duffle bag of clothing with him.  
"Here you go Carrots," he said as he handed Judy her iPawd player, "I don't think it got wet."  
Untying the rope from the steering head and, using assorted ropes and railings, Nick dragged the tender around the stern of the slowly sinking yacht.  
With the hawser rope, he pulled the dinghy to the underside of the hull where they both looked at the splintered structure that once held the cast concrete keel. Moving forward was more damage with some of the clinker planks split and broken at the edge of an internal bulkhead. A black mark edged the port side of the damage, contrasting against the light blue colour of the lower hull.  
Looking closer, Nick could see that the black mark wasn't the colour of the wood under the blue paint, but a scuff of gunmetal coloured paint transferred onto the hull.  
"Looks like we hit something painted black," Nick said, "might have been a submerged container?"  
Judy looked back along the path they'd come, only to see a basically flat sea. In fact, apart from the sea and the sky, the only two features to be seen anywhere, was the Sun and the clouds on the Eastern horizon.Continuing around the bow of the yacht, Nick steadied the tender in front of the anchor hatch before reaching across to open and pull out the anchor.  
Dropping the anchor between the front railings, Nick and Judy watched as the lead chain and anchor rope paid out from the hatch until nearly all the rope had disappeared.  
"Well, if we get to try and salvage her, she shouldn't have gone far," Nick shrugged.  


"We should be in the target area in ten minutes Sir," said the ocelot to the rabbit, "I'll have the Master at Arms escort you to the launch area if you're ready sir?"  
"Thank-you Lieutenant, I guess its time to get this show on the road as they say." quipped the rabbit  
"Sergeant," called the ocelot to a gruff looking hyena, "our visitor is ready to leave."  
The hyena led Jack Savage to the forward torpedo bay where technicians were looking over a piece of machinery sitting in an opened wooden crate.  
"Is it ready to go Kew?" asked Jack.  
"What?" An alpaca's head popped up from behind the small craft sitting there. "Oh, Savage, yes, fully charged, weapons systems armed, life support ready, just need to strap you in, pop you in a tube, and fire you on your way."  
"Don't sound too eager there, Kew," joked the rabbit. "Anybody would think you're trying to get rid of me."  
"Never Mister Savage, why the slightest hint of the thought would never have even crossed my mind," chirped the alpaca as he winked at the goat technician next to him.  
The machine in question looked somewhat like a jet-ski, but with a sealed canopy over the top, made to suit a torpedo tube.  
"Do try to bring this back in one piece Savage," continued the alpaca. "but if you have to get back to the sub some other way, don't forget to take the locator beacon with you.  
"The ship's intercom pinged as the XO called. "Ten minutes to target, silent running please."  
"Bugger," grumbled the goat, switching the electro-hydraulic hoist to a manual pump to lift the jet-ski into the tube.  
The alpaca and goat sized up the rabbit, and Kew asked, "Do you want to get on now, or we could have the sergeant lift you up once we've got her up to the tube?"  
"Thank you Kew, but you know I don't like being picked up like a toy, so I'll just use that ladder over there once she's lined up," answered the rabbit.  
Presently, the crew had the small craft partially nosed into the torpedo tube as the hyena brought over the ladder.  
"All right Savage, up you hop!" snickered the alpaca, the goat straining to hold a straight face behind him.  
Jack stared at the alpaca as he deliberately climbed the ladder one rung at a time, before seating himself onto the saddle.  
-Ping- "Five minutes to target" said a quiet voice.  


The yacht gave a lurch as water began to pour into the breach left from the missing keel. Nick pushed the dinghy away, gathering up the mooring rope and surveying the assortment of boxes, bags and gear carefully packed about the small craft. He looked at Judy, who sat in a rear corner with a bewildered look on her face and massaging her shoulder.  
"How you holding up Judy?" asked Nick, sitting beside her. Leaning her head to his chest, she sniffed and put her arms around his waist.  
"I'm still trying to come to grips with it all, Nick. Delayed shock, or something I guess," She looked up at him, "Will we be OK?"  
"Hey there Fluff, we're good," assured Nick, "supposed to have a couple of days of good weather still, and we're only about twenty miles from the nearest island, so we should make land by nightfall."  
"Can we make fifty miles with the fuel we've got?" she asked, worried.  
"Well, gosh no," replied Nick, "we've only got about fifteen litres for the outboard. We would be lucky to run for two hours with that much. No, we're gonna sail most of it, keep the motor for landing."  
With that, Nick began rearranging things to find the tender's oars, and began setting one up as a mast, using guide ropes from their camping tents. With more ropes he lashed the other oar to the transom to use as a rudder. Judy unravelled the spinnaker, and tied some ropes to the corner eyelets and, with Nicks help, they had a mast and spinnaker up and began making headway towards the clouds in the distance.  
"You're a regular boy-scout Slick," complemented Judy. "Sure you didn't join another troop somewhere?"  
Nick stared off into space momentarily before answering.  
"No, I never joined any other troops, but I still admired the concept and read all the books I could about scouting and, by default, various other craft."  
Looking down at Judy, Nick posed, "Did you know there were also a sea scout groups?"  
He looked off into the distance again, "Yeah, I read all their books, but was afraid to join…" his voice trailing.  
They both looked back at the receding yacht, which now only showed about a foot of side hull above the surface, they then leaned together at the rear of the small boat, Nick adjusting the tension on a rope to the spinnaker, Judy laying in his lap, looking a little lost, as he massaged her shoulder.  


The alpaca folded the top half of the bullet shaped polycarbonate sabot over the rabbit, who then pushed a lever from the inside, locking the watertight hull around the jet-ski. Kew gave a thumbs up sign to Jack, who returned the gesture from within.  
"I can still hear you out there," said Jack.  
"Oh of course," said the alpaca loudly, receiving a 'shooshing' noise from the goat and hyena.  
He continued in a lower voice, "I'll just check the hermetic seal before we push you in," and with that, put his finger over the air ventilation outflow hole at the rear of the enclosure. Looking inside, he could see the internal depth gauge gain a few feet in depth, before letting go again.  
The alpaca leaned against the small hull and said, "About to disconnect the airline and load you."  
"Get on with it," was all Jack said in return.  


"Captain on the bridge," voiced the ocelot as the tiger walked back into the control room.  
"Thank you number one," replied the tiger, "status report?"  
"Two miles north of target site sir."  
"Very good number one," said the captain stepping towards the right side of the cabin, "Propulsion, all stop please. Planes, come to eight degrees up bubble once we get down to two knots. Ballast, make the bow depth ten feet."  
"Excuse me Captain," questioned the XO, "but aren't we supposed to be five degrees at ten meters?"  
"What's that Number one? I can't hear you in this silent mode," smirked the tiger, "besides, I'd like to give our little friend a fitting send off!"  


The goat and hyena pushed the shell into the torpedo tube, the alpaca unclipping the airlines and closing the valves.  
The goat swung the door closed, calling to his assistant, "flood the tube and set launch pressure for three hundred and eighty pounds at thirty feet."  
The launch crew could feel the submarine tilting up beneath them as a voice came over the intercom, "ready for launch," and a light near the intercom turned amber.  
"Outer door open, tube flooded Sarge," called the goat's assistant. "Um Billy, shouldn't we be at…"  
The Sergeant at Arms gave a withering stare at the sheep standing at the tube firing panel.  
The sheep placed his hooves on the launch lever.  
"What?" quizzed Kew.  


"Fire the spook," sneered the Captain. The XO pushed a button, an intercom light turned green, and the sheep pulled a lever.  
A rumbling sound emanated from the torpedo tube as the rabbit and jet-ski bullet were expelled.  
Instead of slowing just bobbing to the surface, the manned torpedo broke out of the water, still doing over ten knots, launching itself to a height of around four feet, before falling back to the ocean.  
"Son of a bi-" exclaimed the rabbit as he impacted upside down.  
The jet-ski righted itself, the rabbit still hanging on for dear life.  
"Frith dammit!" he yelled, almost deafening himself, "if I ever see that bloody tiger again, I'm going to skin him and turn him into a damned rug!"  


"So Carrots, what's for lunch?"  
Judy rummaged about the boxes, "probably should eat the bread first. It won't keep, how about a cheese and grilled mushroom sandwich?"  
"Sounds good Fluff." The little boat made quiet headway as the Sun approached zenith.  
An hour later Judy was curled up asleep next to Nick, and Nick was rapping his claws on the gunnel in time with some music he was listening to on Judy's iPawd.  
The little boat sailed on, the clouds looming slightly closer.  


Pulling the release lever, the outer shell opened and fell away, whereupon the rabbit pressed the start button. The jet-ski rumbled to life, burbling into the water as it warmed up. He initiated the GPS and depth sounder equipment before twisting the throttle and heading off towards the island a mere five miles away. The GPS director arrow gave Jack a heading towards a secluded beach, chosen from satellite recon photos, on the North Eastern side of the island.  
The onboard radio scanner swept through frequency ranges, listening for signals, a red light flashed as a signal was locked on to.  
The rabbit listened to the sound in his earpiece momentarily, then discounted it as a VHF television carrier wave, probably from the neighbouring islands.  
He touched the pass button and listened to the next frequency found, another TV station. Swiping up the screen, he selected the UHF band and tapped scan again as he powered onward.  
The light flashed on again, a voice came to his ears;  
"… about ten minutes." A deep guttural voice, a hippo possibly.  
Another voice responded;"OK, I'll have a couple of soda's ready for you, I'm just gonna hit the sushi tray, out." A smooth voice, precise, feline, one of the larger cats maybe?  
Jack looked at his watch, eleven forty seven. 'Cutting it fine,' he thought to himself. His plan was to have arrived by lunchtime when most mammals would tend to have less concentration.  
Rounding a rocky crag, the small beach came into view.  


"Show me the way to go home." Nick pointed at Judy, who continued the song;  
"I'm tired and I wanna go to bed." Nick joined and they sang together;  
"'Cause I had a little drink about an hour ago, and it's gone right to my head." Judy giggled, and looked at Nick.  
"So you're sure?" she asked.  
"Oh yes," he answered. "If they hear that song, they just take off, too many bad memories." He snickered.  
Judy finished her carrot juice and lay back against Nicks knees, looking at the island in the distance, noticing the volcanic shape on the Northern side with a small wisp of smoke rising from it's tip.  
"All looks a bit rugged," worried Judy.  
Nick had also been studying the coastline or at least what they could see from this distance, tall cliffs appearing to climb out of the ocean, some even showing virgin rock-face.  
"Looks to get a bit lower towards the South. We'll have to change tack to head that way," he replied, "I'll rearrange the spinnaker into a jib."  
"What do you want me to do?" asked Judy.  
NIck surveyed the boat, "Have a quick sort through the supplies and put the heaviest stuff on the righthand side, without a keel, we could end up with a bit of a lean."  
He began untying the starboard rope to the spinnaker from the oar rollick, retying it to one of the forward bollards. The sail luffed now, more like a flag, until Nick pulled the tiller oar, bringing the boat about to a more Southerly heading.  
Almost immediately the sail refilled and the boat began to list to port, the sail wobbling erratically.  
Nick untied the port side rope and re-threaded it around a rear handhold on the stern, then sat up on the starboard beam amidships and reefing the rope, pulled the sail into a more airfoil shape.  
The boat gained a little speed and the apparent wind picked up noticeably.  
Judy felt the tender begin to accelerate, she looked up and began to giggle at Nick who was now sitting on the side of the boat, holding the mast bracing rope with his right paw, holding tension on the jib line with his left paw and steering with his left foot.  
"Um, little help here Judy?"  
Judy climbed under the jib rope and sat in the starboard gunnel to take over the tiller oar from Nick.  
"And you looked so comfy too," she continued to giggle.  


Agent Savage steered the small craft quietly towards the small beach, ready to turn make a quick exit should any sign of trouble show up.  
Timing a small wave, he ran the jet-ski up on the beach, close to the rock wall on one side.  
Dismounting, he unclipped the small radio transceiver from the dash, and stuck it in his breast pocket. He opened a hatch at the front and removed assorted items, some going into a small shoulder bag, others being clipped to his belt. Finally he pulled out a camouflage net and threw it over his vessel.  
Heading towards the lush vegetation bordering the beach, he pulled off his neat navy blue jacket and reversed it to reveal a grey, green and black striped lining as he entered the greenery.  


The rabbit and fox huddled on the side rail, Judy basically reaching around the mast side brace, and hanging on to Nick, holding him in place.  
The little boat rose and dipped diagonally across the small swell that had picked up. In the distance, they could see a rift in the cliff edge with vegetation all the way down to the water line.  
"There may be a beach at the bottom of all that vegetation," said Nick, pointing towards the cliff, "doubt there will be any civilisation, but we can land and sleep on the beach for the night."  
"You almost make that sound romantic, Nick," said Judy, snuggling into his armpit.  
Nick turned toward the shoreline and let out some of the jib, the boat now tending to surf the small swells as the island loomed.  
With only a few hundred yards to the shore, they could both see the small sandy beach and the lush vegetation backdrop. Judy had just stood up to nuzzle under Nicks chin when a burst of retorts, like machine-gun fire, rang out from the jungle in front of them.  
They both looked at each other.  
"We're not on duty, Nick," Judy stated.  
"I'm with you on this one Fluff, not our jurisdiction."  
Judy moved to the tiller and started a turn back along the coast line as Nick reefed in the jib again.  
"How much daylight do you think we have, Nick?"  
"I think about an hour and a half, but we're closer to the Equator, so when it goes down, it will get dark quickly."  
"Hope we can find something in the next ten miles!"  


The remote pyrotechnics went off as planned while the striped rabbit watched from behind a large rock near the compound fence-line. The commotion that followed also went to plan.  
Assorted mammals began pouring out of what he figured to be the armoury, due to the weapons they were all waving about.  
The mammals rounded on a pair of off-road vehicles, but just before they reached them, the rabbit pressed another switch in his pocket, setting off more artificial gunfire about a hundred yards to the right of his initial distraction.The mammals thought to scatter, but all ended up huddling behind the two trucks with their backs to the rabbit, some firing their weapons into the Western jungle.  
In quick succession he fired two tear-gas rockets at either side of the huddle. Mammals leapt up and away from their nearest explosions, only to run into one another in the confusion, some of the larger animals injuring the smaller ones, as many succumbed to the gas.  
The rabbit looked at the open door to the armoury, fingering a phosphorous RPG, but thought, 'No, most of these animals are just muscle for hire and have no idea what they're really protecting.'  
Pulling out an arm-braced slingshot and a packet of ball bearings, he triggered a few single gun blasts while loosening two bearings at a time at the trucks. By pure chance, one actually shattering a side window on a truck, causing the mercenaries to huddle closer under the vehicles.  
Agent Jack Savage shrank back into the jungle, now heading for his prime objective.  


The Sun made a beautiful sight as it neared the ocean horizon, glorious colours spreading across the expanse.  
Unfortunately, neither Nick or Judy felt to enjoy the sight, still looking at vertical cliff faces with waves crashing on rocks.  
"Look over there Nick, why is that bit of rock brighter than the rest?"  
"Ah, hopefully that's what we want, it's sunlight shining into a cleft, maybe there's a beach there."  
As they closed on the cleft, the sound of the crashing surf died away, and the Sun illuminated a vast cavern, tapering towards the top.  
A buoy appeared in the reducing swell as a small protected harbour with a jetty hove into view. An assortment of small runabouts and a large cabin cruiser were all tied up to the dock.  
The waters smoothed as Nick and Judy drifted towards the wharf, not needing to start the little outboard. It was to be expected to see numerous signs proclaiming, 'PRIVATE PROPERTY-KEEP OUT' in a few assorted languages.  
Nick and Judy drifted the length of the large cruiser, Judy looking up in awe.  
Steering the tender around the back of the large craft, a rope ladder flowing down from the dock, came into view.  
Their life boat stopped with bump against the lower wooden pilings.  
"Sorry about the bump folks, mind any luggage that may have moved about, and watch you step on the ladder," stated Nick.  
"Too good Slick," said Judy, fist-bumping his upper arm for good measure. They both held the rope ladder while looking at the rear of the cruiser.  
"So who is Herbert G Wells?" asked Judy.  
"More likely who was," replied Nick, "probably a rich relative that died and paid for it all."  
Climbing part way up the rope ladder and pulling the rigging over as he went, Nick disconnected the top sail attachment, allowing the sail to flop down over the dinghy.  
He climbed back down and grabbed a bow rope, "I think they may be some big tides in here going by the height of this dock, so I'm going to tie off up here somewhere."  
"OK Nick, what do you think we should bring?" called up Judy.  
"Grab the cashbox and passports, maybe put your passport in an inside pocket."  
Presently Judy finished climbing up the rope ladder and the two headed inland along the dock. They came to a small empty guard box, a cigarette butt almost finished smouldering in a tray.  
An intercom came to life. "I think they have us on two sides," came a panicked call, "there's probably more than a dozen of them!"  
An explosion sounded off in the distance, "I'm not liking the sound of this," Nick mumbled to Judy.  
Looking up, they saw a wolf and a badger running towards them, waving small weapons in their direction.  
"Don't move, paws up!" they called, rounding on the rabbit and fox.  
Judy leaned forward, her ears up, but her hands by her sides, and was about to let loose when Nick called quickly from the side of his mouth, "Judy, JUDY, not now, these nice mammals might actually help us," as he raised his arms.  
Judy followed suit, raising her paws, her ears falling down her back.  
"Who are you two, where are you from?" barked the wolf.  
"Sir, just a pair of civilians, lost on the high seas. Our yacht sank this morning, and we've just come ashore," replied Nick in his slickest delivery.The two guards stood contemplating, the badger looking more nervous than authoritative.  
Looking past the guards, Nick noticed a large tiger and a gazelle hurrying up the dock. Presently the two stopped behind the guards.  
In a deep modulated voice, the tiger asked, "Who are these people?" his voice resonating across the walls of the cavern.  
"They're saying civilians Sir," replied the wolf.  
Nick picked up the conversation, "Just a pair of sailors Sir, our yacht sank about forty miles off shore."  
"Well, it's probably not a good idea to stay here," rumbled the tiger, "we seem to have some form of 'uprising' occurring. Where is your vessel?"  
Nick pointed a claw towards the large cruiser as he slowly lowered his arms.  
The tiger stared in the direction of the claw, leaning towards the edge of dock, and noticed the top of an oar sticking only a few feet above the dock.  
Turning to the guards he said, "You two go back and hold the dock, Jaclyn my dear, if you could go and get onboard please."  
The tiger levelled his gaze back at the two in front of him while pulling a cigarette pack from his coat pocket.  
"So, civilians eh?"  
He slowly moved his other paw towards an inside pocket of his all white suit.  
Judy twitched at the movement.  
The striped feline fixed his gaze on the rabbit, "So fox, this is your crew?"  
"I'm his WIFE," stated Judy firmly, her ears back up and fists at her sides as her foot thumped on the wooden dock.  
The tiger's arm movement stopped mid poise, his eyebrows lifting.  
"How interesting, and possibly inconvenient." he rumbled.  
Judy deliberately eyed the tigers paw in his jacket.  
"So what do you plan to do, kill us?" She tried to take a step, but Nick's arm flashed across to her chest, holding her in place before she could even move.  
The tiger's paw moved in a slightly different direction within his jacket, and withdrew a cigarette lighter.  
"Good heavens no dear," he said lighting the cigarette, "unless you mean with secondhand smoke?"

The two stood staring at one another until Nick broke the standoff.  
"So you suggest we leave the island then?" he quizzed, pointing down toward their tender, while his other arm gently pulled Judy in behind him.  
Machine gun fire could then be heard rattling in the distance.  
"Yes, I suggest we leave," directed the tiger, "but I suggest you come with me, as your vessel doesn't look particularly up to the task."  
He stepped off towards the large white cruiser, Nick and Judy looking at one another momentarily, then quickly following the tiger towards the gangplank that stretched across to the flybridge of the Herbert Wells.  
The feline marched on board, stopping at the end of the gangplank, turned and beckoned to Nick and Judy, who scampered across the plank to stand before the him.  
His deep voice announced, "Welcome aboard Mister and Misses...?" his voice trailed, still echoing off the walls as one of the ships thrusters came online.  
"Wilde, Nick and Judy Wilde," flurried Nick with a small bow.  
A huge explosion shook the very island, a red glow showing in what little of the night sky could be seen straight above their heads, Judy clutching behind Nick.  
"Cast off now!" the tiger called into the flybridge.  
A female black jackal in a white sailor suit sprang past them, pulled a locking pin and shoved the gangway back onto the dock.  
She turned and eyed Nick up and down for a moment, moving a lollipop stick about her mouth with her tongue before leaping down the ladders to the rear deck, and casting off the stern-line.  
Nick felt the second motor come online, the vessel surging away from the dock, but feeling as smooth as standing on firm land.  
"Quickly captain, I suspect the volcano may be about to erupt," called the tiger, leading Nick and Judy into the flybridge.Two female ocelots, again in white sailor suits, manned the helm as the vessel continued to silently accelerate, passing twenty knots by the time they had reached the opening of the inlet.  
"Impressive," commented Nick, "fusion turbine?"  
"Yes," replied the tiger, "only the one core, but two drives, will do over a hundred knots."  
Nick looked at the tiger with a sideways glance.  
"Oh, I understand your doubt good fox, but it's also a hydrofoil, gets up at about forty knots, then things really start to happen."  
The Herbert Wells was now in open water, the cliff face rapidly falling behind them. Judy stepped to the rear of the flybridge, looking at the red glow towards the North.  
Just above the wind noise, she could still hear a little amount of small arms fire, and further up the coast, she thought she could hear the sound of a high powered jet-ski fading into the distance.  
"So my new friends," invited the tiger, ushering Nick and Judy to a stairwell, "let us go below for some refreshments, and as I was just about to say, I will be your host."  
"You can call me Doctor Meow."

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a pretty simple story, but I just kept wanting to add a little detail here and there, so it blew out from 2.5k words to the 6.5k it is now.  
> Add to that a one week vacation that ended up in hospital for a gall bladder operation, followed by another week in bed, things just took longer than I planned.  
> Midway through an edit, something happened to the formatting so this is the third upload.


End file.
